Welcome to my Fields of Mistria first impressions. We were not given a review code for this title.
- Buy Fields of Mistria on Steam
Fields of Mistria is a pixel art farming sim with a nostalgic 80-90s anime character aesthetic. Currently in Early Access, I had an opportunity to play the game for 45+ hours (a little over one in-game year) to see what it has to offer so far. Keep reading for my full thoughts.
Stop: This is not a review! I don’t think it’s fair to review ‘early access’ versions of a game, so I endeavour to provide my thoughts and impressions + give a recommendations to buy now or wait for updates.
Fields of Mistria takes the basic building blocks of your favorite legacy farming sims and puts just enough of a twist on them to keep things fresh. It starts with the ye old classic: newcomer arrives in town and is provided with a free farmhouse and land by the community.
After an earthquake, the royal family of Mistria makes a proclamation: One brave adventurer who is willing to help rebuild and nourish the havoc-wreaked town can have, in exchange, a plot of land bursting with farmland potential. As the player, you will blissfully take them up on this offer (or uninstall the game, I guess)!
As the newest farmer/adventurer in town, you will spend your time building out your rundown property, collecting resources from the woods and mines, helping construct or fix-up different venues around town, uncovering the secrets of the mines (and a strange voice calling to you from within them), fostering your budding magic, and helping a dragon statue reclaim it’s lost memories.
The town of Mistria is bustling with life and tinged with whispers of magic. It really feels like the perfect balance of life management and whimsical fantasy, letting you juggle the mundane with beautiful tangents of mystical mystery. Mistria feels alive in a way not often seen in farm/life sims: characters talk in groups, have best friends and social events, and remember (and comment on) conversations from the past. Time is tangential and linear, and the residents are moving with the flow of the current alongside you.
The character designs harken back to 80-90s anime favorites like Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon. It’s packed with nostalgia—including plenty of nods to the farming sims that have come before—but iterative and modernized in a way that makes Fields of Mistria feel brand new. Like, did you know you don’t have to refill your watering can? It just stays full! As the genre evolves, I am indeed ready to start trading realism for quality-of-life; and Mistria seems committed to growing up with me.
The satisfying tug between diving deep into the mines to uncover their secrets and helping out around town kept me constantly preoccupied with various flavors of enrichment. One day, my sole focus would be to blitz through at least 5 layers of underground caverns; the next, I’d be frantically chopping trees to help rebuild the general store.
Some days I would just orbit around the town center looking to talk to anyone within range. I never tired of the characters or dialogue. Watching the prickly blacksmith warm up to me or the flighty merchant start to envision a future in Mistria filled me with so much genuine love for what ultimately amounts to a smattering of pastel pixels. I don’t know how they did it. I couldn’t wait to see their wardrobe change each season or how the “Dungeons & Drama” game each Friday night at the inn was progressing. I felt quickly attached to even the most awkward denizens, from the pun-slinging shopkeeper to the mean girl bathhouse owner.
And having everything shepherded by the deeply-involved rulers of Mistria—pink-haired siblings Adeline and Eiland—made me want to contribute and be a part of things even more. Their restoration plans and ties to the capital made Mistria feel tactile in space and time, like I could reach out and touch it. Attached to the outside world through narrative and politics, Mistria exemplifies masterful limited scope world building. Just a hint of the greater world beyond makes me feel like my time is not my only option, but a choice.
It doesn’t even make sense to fixate on the mechanical chores in Fields of Mistria because it’s such a small part of the whole picture. Yes, you’ll plant and water crops; raise and tend to livestock; gather resources and craft items; unlock new abilities and improved skills—but what sounds like day-to-day tedium is made exhilarating by the lulling soundtrack, awe-striking visual environment, and ecclectica cast of very attractive characters.
Being Early Access, you’ll stall at around 60 levels of the mines, 4 hearts of NPC affection points and the associated story beats, and anything that comes after repairing the general store and the inn. But for the small price you pay for access, Fields of Mistria is well-worth the cost. If I didn’t have other games to review and write about, I could have easily spent my time filling the Animal Crossing-esc museum with foliage, fish, bugs, and artifacts or grinding currency for the dozens-upon-dozens of aesthetic unlockables.
I’m honored to buy and recommend Fields of Mistria to cozy gamers everywhere. The developers struck gold and their efforts are worth supporting. And I know I’ll be back to do a full review when the game is done.
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Stay cozy, gamers!